Re “Take ‘em for the team, A-Rod,”...

Re “Take ‘em for the team, A-Rod,” Opinion, Feb. 12

Zev Chafets wants Alex Rodriguez to take steroids because, “For many people, danger is the price of doing business. Construction workers, firefighters, cops and combat soldiers all take their lives in their hands to earn a living.”

These people take risks because society can’t function without their work, and we can’t make that work risk-free. Rodriguez plays a game for a living. There’s nothing wrong with society paying people, including athletes, to entertain us, but no societal need requires entertainers taking their lives in their hands.

It’s only a game

Individual athletes can choose to risk their own health, but with the coercive power of the sports industry, are athletes truly free to reject performance-enhancing drugs? No game is worth that risk, for the athletes or for society.

Kay M. Gilbert

Santa Monica